Today is Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Today more incriminating evidence against the former president was presented at the seventh House select committee hearing which focused on the loose affiliations between Dumpf, his informal political advisers, and members of far-right militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Today the committee walked through snippets of witness depositions, court documents, previously unseen emails and other materials, to make the strong case that Dumpf coyly courted these militants and saw them as his troops on the ground, to pressure Congress to overturn the 2020 election. It was if we had an alternate-universe version of George Washington in the form of this delusional president rallying his storm troopers in the form of these far-right militia groups. This explosive hearing is covered in a CNN online article by Marshall Cohen, Jeremy Herb, and Zachary Cohen entitled “Takeaways from the January 6 hearing, day 7.”

One of the leaders of today’s hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said this in his opening remarks to those who were in the room and to those watching at home, “All of these efforts would converge and explode on January 6.” Some of those takeaways from today’s hearing include the following:

Panel highlights Dumpf’s ‘call to arms’ tweet

The panel repeatedly highlighted a tweet from Dumpf from December 2020, which they said was a galvanizing call-to-arms that motivated his supporters to come to Washington to disrupt the transition of power. This rousing tweet claimed that it was “statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election” and said there would be a “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th.” Dumpf infamously added, “Be there, will be wild!”

The coleader of the hearing, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat, said that the post was “a call to action, and in some cases as a call to arms, for many of president Dumpf’s most loyal supporters,” citing comments from many of the rioters and far-right extremists, who said they were inspired by the tweet.

Details uncovered for the planning behind Dumpf’s ‘unexpected’ call to march to the Capitol

The committee unveiled evidence today showing how Dumpf’s call for his supporters to march to the Capitol on January 6 had been planned in advance.

Part of that evidence was when the committee showed a draft tweet – which Dumpf did not send – calling for marching to the Capitol. The draft tweet reads: “I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!” Even though the president did not send it, the tweet includes a stamp saying “President has seen.”

The most bizarre part of the hearing was the details uncovered behind a truly “unhinged” Oval Office meeting held in December 2020. Here the committee revealed testimony from six participants of a December 18, 2020, Oval Office session that devolved into total chaos as Dumpf allies clashed with White House lawyers over various plans for overturning the presidential election – with the insurrectionist looking on.

Jamie Raskin said this meeting was “critically important because President Trump got to watch up close for several hours as his White House counsel and other White House counselors destroyed the baseless factual claims and ridiculous legal arguments offered by Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn, and others.”

Offering damning testimony was former White House lawyer Pat Cipollone who told the panel that he was “not happy” to see people such as Flynn, Powell, and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne (what the hell was he doing there?) in the Oval Office with the former lunatic ex-president.

In his deposition, Cipollone said, “I don’t think any of these people were providing the President with good advice, so I did not understand how they had gotten in.”

With this hours-long meeting, we get the revelation that the meeting broke into screaming matches between the former president’s more reserved and sane lawyers and those idiots deemed the “crazies” like disgraced ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, and Sidney Powell. Even White House lawyer Eric Herschmann also told the committee that the meeting got to the point where “screaming was completely – completely out there.” This type of ridiculous behavior was more apropos of a dive bar than the freaking White House. What disgusting behavior on the part of this former demagogue and his crazy allies!

At one point, Herschmann told the insurrectionist-in-charge’s allies to “shut the fuck up.” The screwed-up Dumpf ally Powell actually accused the White House lawyers of failing to propose any ideas and showing “nothing but contempt and disdain of the President” during the meeting, according to video from her deposition. What a fucking idiot! This woman – who really should be charged with something after her deposition has come out – had more disdain for the Constitution and the American people!

Trump’s rhetoric ‘killed someone,’ former campaign manager privately acknowledged

A very stark piece of evidence presented today at the hearing were private messages from one of Dumpf’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who privately acknowledged that he “felt guilty for helping him to win” and believed the former president’s rhetoric killed someone on January 6, 2021. Parscale served as Dumpf’s campaign’s digital director in 2016 and as Dumpf’s campaign manager until July 2020, when Bill Stepien took over.

More bombshell news was delivered by committee vice chairwoman Liz Cheney who mentioned this at the end of the session: finally, the Department of Justice was notified of an alleged attempt by the former mob boss president to contact a witness in an effort to tamper with a witness’s testimony. If this doesn’t result in a more serious investigation of Dumpf and his many transgressions, I don’t know what will!

Before I leave you with this eye-opening news from the seventh hearing of the House select committee investigating the infamous events of January 6, I would like to recommend a documentary on Netflix that I watched yesterday. The film is called Girl in the Picture and it is a very disturbing and shocking investigation of a thirty-year-old mystery surrounding the death of a 20-year-old in 1990 and the kidnapping of her young son from an elementary school. The ending left me in tears, I have no qualms of admitting. For those who love detective stories, this is an excellent one; it will keep you guessing until the very end. Watch it with a loved one, if you can.

Stay safe and be well.